November 26, 2013 4:17 pm

Pete Carroll said the Seahawks will always look to give guys second chances, and that sometimes it won’t work out.

That was the overriding theme to his post-practice conversation with reporters today following practice. Some quick hits from Carroll:

> “We’re very disappointed that some guys won’t be able to play with us; this is kind of how it goes at times. Over the years, I’ve always found myself wanting to find guys that need maybe some consideration, some special opportunities to do what the can do and sometimes it doesn’t always work out,” Carroll said.

> Carroll said, as expected, that Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane will jump into the mix. He also said that DeShawn Shead will be moved up from the practice squad. Since we’re already into the week, I’d be stunned to see any more additions beyond Cox and Shead being moved up. The Seahawks have also added CB Akeem Auguste to the practice squad. Here’s his profile from when he was with Cleveland.

> Carroll was asked if he thought these suspensions and the subsequent discussions had a chance to derail the season. “Not at all,” he said.

> Carroll also said that they talked about everything as a team earlier today and that they have dealt with it and are moving on.

> Carroll repeated the phrase “things pop up” during the questions about the suspensions. “Disappointed I think is the best way to say it,” Carroll said. “There are a lot of guys in this program. I don’t know that we can expect to be perfect. We’d like to be, but that isn’t the case.”

> He said he’s not thinking about changing his approach or message despite the spate of suspensions the last two years for the Seahawks. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. But, we certainly will hang with our guys and take care of them.”

> Percy Harvin sat out of practice Tuesday. Carroll once again says Harvin is “day-to-day.”

> Jermaine Kearse (concussion) was back at practice and is fine.

> Thurmond will be able to remain with the Seahawks while he is suspended.

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

What does “Thurmond will be able to remain with the Seahawks while he is suspended.” mean?

At the VMAC? Working out? Practicing? Counseling? I would hope for WT’s sake he could do all of that. Maybe the worst thing for him would be to cut him loose from the structure and support he needs. The NFL isn’t known for it’s compassion or good sense, but this sounds promising.

I am afraid the NFL will take action in he near future and punish the Seahawks by garnishing draft picks if this continues. I love PC and the way he runs the program, but at some point the FO and coaching staff need to be accountable for their failures in this area. I really have no problem with the way PC runs the ship, but the league will view it as loss of institutional control at some point. And it is becoming very apparent that he desperately needs some assistance in this dept.

They need to be proactive to show the NFL that they are willing to go above and beyond in implementing a program that goes past the league’s standards in terms of keeping players clean.
Paul Allen should hire a special consultant or counselor that specializes in the field of banned substances. Preferably a lawyer ( Chuck E. ? ) that knows the ins and outs of the NFL drug policy and can advise and counsel the players regarding various situations personally on a one to one basis.

Maybe they have something like that already, but obviously its not working well, if we base the effectiveness of the Hawks’ policies and programs based strictly on results. I have a liberal philosophy as far as recreational drug use goes, but this is getting out of hand and will start affecting on the field performance and results as early as next Monday. PC needs to address this issue differently, and change the culture around banned substances moving forward.

In the League’s eyes, ” things pop up” and ” we can’t be perfect ” look like weak excuses and are unacceptable. Still love this team, but the players need to be smarter, and you can’t watch people 24/7 and make them do anything they don’t want to do, but something’s gotta change. Paul Allen’s deep, almost limitless pockets are a huge resource that give us an edge over most teams, and it needs to be taken advantage of in this case.

Golden Tate doesn’t hide his disappointment with teammates over this reality.

“Everyone should realize where this team is,” the wide receiver said Tuesday on 710 ESPN radio in Seattle. “You are affecting way more than yourself. I feel like that was kind of a selfish move on both those guys’ part. But it is what it is. The show must go on, and that’s what we’re gonna do

I really don’t see how you can keep people from doing stupid acts if they are determined to commit them. Many of these young athletes have been pampered and excused from consequences all their young lives. Add in living on their own and having more money than they can spend, it can’t be easy to convince them of the consequences of their actions. Sad.

I fully expect a win on Monday and then again in SF…It’s no fun to go through this suspension crap but BB and Thurmond are not the sole reason for the success of this team. Our Depth is ridiculous and I have faith in the guys who are all in baby.

The fact is one time is a blip. Two times may be coincidence. Three times there is a trend. By the time you get to seven or eight times in a two year timespan you have a full scale epidemic.

If Carroll isn’t going do do anything about it, the league will step in. The best way to send a message is to do things similar to the Saints punishment. It may involve fines, loss of draft picks, suspension of coaches, or any combination the league feels is necessary.

What is a team allowed to do to control player behavior? Is signing squeaky clean players the only solution? How do other teams avoid these issues? It’s hard to believe the Hawks are that much different from the rest of the NFL. Any ideas?

If PC is going to continue to give a higher than average number of “at risk” players a second or third chance, it seems inevitable that a higher than average number of Seahawk players will screw up their chance.

The question becomes how much the club is responsible for and how much responsibility is on the individual player?

I expect the Seahawks should have a better than average support system for their players, but it’s unreasonable to punish the club for bad choices made by players determined to make poor choices.

Except the league has a policy to do just that. In an attempt to put a stop to the whole issue with players violating the personal conduct policy, the substance abuse policy, and the PED ban the league enacted the remittance program that says any team that has multiple suspensions for the above violations in a single season the league can impose fines on the team, can take draft choices from a team, and can impose suspensions on front office personnel.

So, yes, the idea is to get teams to quit signing known bad boys.

And Seattle has had more than their reasonable share of said bad boys under Carroll’s tenure.

I very much expect there will be a directive coming down from NY to Seattle strongly suggesting they get their house in order or the league will.

We’ve had some substance abuse suspensions two of which were questionable (had prescription, didn’t file it correctly) and one of which happened while the guy was a Seahawk but the incident happened before he joined the team. The other two were legit.

I just compare it to Aldon Smith, or Darnell Dockett, or even Ray Lewis, and shake my head. Those things were FAR WORSE, either putting people at risk, actively killing people while drunk, or likely involved in murdering people. Those incidents didn’t result in the loss of draft picks.

Frankly I think we’re being trolled by 49ers fans when that suggestion comes up.

I know, there’s stuff in the agreements in the NFL about it being a possibility, but it’s not like cheating on the salary cap by $30 million, either. (Redskins) Or taping signals of opponents. (Patriots)

Very interesting article about Browner. Thanks for sharing. No one has been able to answer anything about the one year suspension deal, and the fact the Seahawks have said nothing, the suspension hasn’t been announced, and Browner continues to rehab, speaks volumes. I totally understand the NFL might not have thought about the possibility of a player being in the NFL, getting to a stage where they have to be tested annually or whatever, missing tests because they are out of the country for months or years and not in the NFL, and then coming back. If the story is true, and it’s very interesting conjecture, but seems like a reasonable line of discussion, well, then it would be super unfair for Browner to have that long of a suspension… full on one year.

As has been pointed out by others – the drug issue in Seattle’s locker room may have less to do with culture or locker room policing and more to do with the types of players Seattle selects.

Perhaps injuries weren’t the only reason Thurmond slipped to the 3rd round. Perhaps scouts had info on drug use. (not shocking, coming from Oregon.) Browner was already known to have failed drug tests. So it’s not as though Russell Wilson types have just gotten busted. It’s very possible Seattle’s current braintrust de-emphasizes evidence of drug use and that’s reflected on their draft board.

Would anyone be stunned if Christine Michael got busted for drug use in the next 12 months?

But that’s exactly what I’m talking about freedom. I don’t think I’m overreacting, because Browner and WT are crucial core players in our scheme and what we try to do on defense. Maybe our FO needs to emphasize past drug use/ history and mark it as more of a negative in future drafts and when scouting. Like I said, I personally don’t really care, but I want this team to win it all so friggin bad, it really upsets me to think anything would lessen our chances, especially if it’s something we can control.

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